Tarrant County is Texas' last major urban county dominated by Republicans. While voters there just barely broke for Democrats in the last two elections, Republicans continue to win in down-ballot races.
FORT WORTH — Eight years after voting for Gov., Angela Martinez found herself waiting in line Tuesday to snap a photo with Beto O’Rourke, his challenger in this year’s nail-biting gubernatorial contest.
Voters in Tarrant County, the state’s last major urban county dominated by Republicans, just barely broke for Democrats at the top of the ticket in the last two elections — O’Rourke won there during his 2018 Senate bid and so did President Joe Biden two years ago — stoking Democrats’ hopes that the path to the governor’s mansion, and the end of their decadeslong exile from statewide office, goes through Tarrant.
But as Democrats express optimism because of O’Rourke and Biden’s victories, Republicans continue to dominate down-ballot races in Tarrant County — a sign of the GOP’s enduring dominance here. “It’s not a good time to be a Democratic candidate, therefore not a good time for Beto in Texas,” Barnes said.Jaynell Sharum, a 73-year-old retiree who last worked for a Fort Worth law firm, said she and her husband have had to make sacrifices as the cost of gas and food have gone up — for which she blames Democrats. Sharum and her husband don’t go out to eat as much as they used to, she said, and at home have cut back on how much meat they buy from the grocery store.
Some conservatives who have chafed at some of Abbott’s moves said they still plan to vote for him. Kaye Moreno, a member of Fort Worth Republican Women, said she disagreed with how long Abbott kept in place measures like mask mandates and occupancy restrictions for businesses intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 — rules that were deeply unpopular among the Republican base.
But this year, White said he voted straight Democratic — a reversal sparked in part by his opposition to the state’s total abortion ban, which he called “beyond appalling.” And he thinks Abbott, who he has voted for twice, has grown too obsessed with “pulling stunts” rather than working to address issues head-on — referring to“They used to be a party of moderate conservatives that had a radical right that was pretty much under control,” White said.
“I truly believe that Republicans, independents and even moderate Democrats are more focused on the issues that impact them on a day-to-day basis,” said Whitley, who has backed Democrat Mike Collier in his bid to unseat Lt. Gov.